Ivory smuggling, Vidal can't declare persona non grata

CEBU, Philippines - The president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City chapter said that a Catholic Church official has no authority to declare foreign writer Bryan Christy persona non grata to Cebu following his article published in National Geographic Magazine linking a priest in the alleged illegal ivory trade.

Lawyer Earl Bonachita said that “persona non grata” is a diplomatic term which simply means that a person is unwelcome to a particular country. He said that such declaration is done by the government through an act of Congress.

 “If the person is declared unwelcome to a country, it should be congress that will declare not the clergy,” he said.

Bonachita, however, said that the term is now being used in a looser sense and has now become a matter of “expression.”

Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal earlier declared Christy as persona non grata to Cebu because of his article on the ivory trade. Christy’s article mentioned about Msgr. Cristobal Garcia supposedly giving him tips on how to smuggle ivory.

But despite Vidal’s declaration, Bonachita believes that Christy can still come to the Philippines. Bonachita explained that the Church has no authority to ban Christy’s entry to the Philippines.

Upon learning his being declared persona non grata by Vidal, Christy announced it on his blog.

“My First ‘Persona non Grata’ (at least from a Cardinal),” Christy’s post read.

The writer hinted in his blog that Vidal should have issued a statement on the church’s action against Garcia instead of declaring him persona non grata.

“No word yet how Cardinal Vidal would treat Monsignor Cristobal Garcia, the alleged pedophile and ivory aficionado featured in Blood Ivory whom Vidal promoted to Monsignor and made a leader in an archdiocese of 4 million Catholics,” said Christy in his blog.

Meanwhile, an official of the Department of Justice said that ivory smuggling has long been known to them. In fact, the alleged smuggling of elephant tusks into the Philippines has already been subject of a discussion during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held in Shanghai, China in December last year.

Provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba, who represented the DOJ in the convention, said that it was discussed during the gathering that the Philippines is being used as transshipment point of ivory for China.

Sometimes in 2007 and 2009 smuggled elephant tusks from Tanzania were confiscated by the customs officials in the Philippines.— (FREEMAN)